Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) Price Target Raised to $525.00

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) had its target price lifted by analysts at UBS Group from $500.00 to $525.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “buy” rating on the software giant’s stock. UBS Group’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 16.43% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen decreased their target price on Microsoft from $495.00 to $475.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Microsoft from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Microsoft from $515.00 to $500.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 10th. KeyCorp increased their target price on Microsoft from $490.00 to $505.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 18th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Microsoft from $500.00 to $495.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 31st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twenty-seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Microsoft has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $506.32.

Microsoft Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NASDAQ MSFT traded down $3.56 on Wednesday, reaching $450.90. 4,456,506 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 20,500,131. Microsoft has a fifty-two week low of $366.50 and a fifty-two week high of $468.35. The company has a current ratio of 1.30, a quick ratio of 1.29 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.15. The company has a 50 day moving average of $425.79 and a 200 day moving average of $428.04. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 37.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.38 and a beta of 0.90.

Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The software giant reported $3.30 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.10 by $0.20. Microsoft had a return on equity of 34.56% and a net margin of 35.61%. The business had revenue of $65.59 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $64.57 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.99 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Microsoft will post 12.93 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Microsoft declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Monday, September 16th that authorizes the company to buyback $60.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the software giant to repurchase up to 1.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CMO Takeshi Numoto sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, November 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $414.72, for a total value of $414,720.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief marketing officer now directly owns 57,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,850,961.92. This represents a 1.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher David Young sold 7,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, November 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $423.66, for a total transaction of $3,050,352.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 103,366 shares in the company, valued at $43,792,039.56. This represents a 6.51 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 41,200 shares of company stock valued at $17,383,892 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.03% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Microsoft

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its stake in Microsoft by 27.0% in the 1st quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 1,016 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Microsoft by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. China Universal Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 113,168 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $47,612,000 after acquiring an additional 43,327 shares in the last quarter. Quent Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 4.3% during the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 35,888 shares of the software giant’s stock valued at $15,099,000 after acquiring an additional 1,467 shares in the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Microsoft by 232.5% during the first quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC now owns 89,032 shares of the software giant’s stock worth $37,458,000 after acquiring an additional 62,258 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kahn Brothers Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Microsoft during the first quarter valued at $801,000. 71.13% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation develops and supports software, services, devices and solutions worldwide. The Productivity and Business Processes segment offers office, exchange, SharePoint, Microsoft Teams, office 365 Security and Compliance, Microsoft viva, and Microsoft 365 copilot; and office consumer services, such as Microsoft 365 consumer subscriptions, Office licensed on-premises, and other office services.